Gloucester hold on to beat Liecester Tigers

Gloucester held on to beat Leicester Tigers 27-21 in the Aviva Premiership at Kingsholm on Saturday.

Leicester Tigers were forced into a late change ahead the clash as scrum-half Ben Youngs (tight hamstring) was replaced by Sam Harrison, with Patrick Phibbs taking his place on the bench.

Gloucester outscored Leicester three tries to two in the match but were hanging
at the death and overcame a double sin-binning in the second-half.

Both teams headed into the match on the back of victories in European competition
and went on to play their part in a thrilling contest on their return to Aviva
Premiership action.

The hosts got off to the best possible start, with Charlie Sharples getting
on the end of Freddie Burns' grubber to cross. Burns added the conversion and
knocked over a penalty on nine minutes, after Toby Flood had got Leicester off
the mark with the boot.

The visitors then narrowed Gloucester's advantage to two when the TMO ruled
that Scott Hamilton's dive for the right corner was a try, but Flood's conversion
miss preserved the hosts' lead.

There was little between the sides at this early stage, and it took an excellent
piece of improvisation from Burns to increase the gap between the two teams.

He snapped up his own chip over the Leicester defence to score, before converting,
to make it 17-8 to Gloucester with a quarter of the match played.

Flood's penalty just moments from half-time put the Tigers within a converted
try and it was to remain close for the majority of the second half.

Burns and Flood exchanged penalties seven and nine minutes after the restart,
before James Simpson-Daniel broke to lay the platform for Akapusi Qera to score
a vital try.

But then, following a double Gloucester sin-binning for Jimmy Cowan and Robert
Cook, Leicester found a way back into the match courtesy of a penalty try awarded
at scrum.

Flood's conversion made it 27-21 but, despite the numerical advantage, the Tigers
were unable to strike again. And with a full compliment back on the field, Gloucester
were able to hold on during a frantic final 15 minutes to secure a thrilling
win.